


Isn't it Midnight

by Limegirl01



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Lie Low At Lupin's (Harry Potter), Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Original Character(s), Regulus Black Deserves Better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29931795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Limegirl01/pseuds/Limegirl01
Summary: This is what I think would have happened if Regulus and Marlene had a child before they kicked the bucket in the first war. Each chapter starts with a flashback from Lupin's perspective, and the rest of the story is told from their daughters perspective (but still in 3rd person don't worry)
Relationships: Harry Potter & Original Female Character(s), Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Regulus Black & Marlene McKinnon, Regulus Black/Marlene McKinnon, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Kudos: 1





	Isn't it Midnight

August, 1981

The meeting with Dumbledore had gone poorly.

Remus Lupin had tried to explain, diplomatically, that members of the Order were unsafe. The wards were not strong enough, the safehouses were easily found, the unplottable estates could still be reached by floo, there was a spy in the Order and Dumbledore was spilling secrets at every meeting. 

He was mourning the death of Marlene. A death that could have been prevented, if the Order had increased security on the McKinnon estate. 

Dumbledore listened, nodded his head at the correct moments, signed when he was prompted, sipped his gilly water contemplatively, but ultimately did nothing. Instead, he gave Remus a new mission. A rogue werewolf pack had formed in Northern Ireland, Remus was to ensure the pack didn’t intend to join You-Know-Who’s ranks. It was what Remus had to do for the Order, Dumbledore told him, it was what he could do to keep Arcturus and Sirius safe. 

The full moon was in three days. 

He exited the Underground at Farringdon (finding that he preferred Muggle transport over apparition these days) and walked quickly to the newspaper shop. Sirius had used magic similar to the common rooms at Hogwarts to hide the safehouse above the shop from Muggles and deatheaters. 

“ _ Jabberwocky _ .” Remus whispered to the peculiar statue of a stag outside of the newspaper shop. A wooden door materialized and Remus entered.

He could hear the sound of Archie crying as soon as he entered. 

“Moony?” Sirius called, “Where the hell is her blanket?”

“Dirty laundry. She puked on it last night.” Remus called back, walking up the dark staircase. He took Archie in his arms when he got to the top, and her crying ceased. 

“How do you do that?” Sirius asked, agitated, “She’s been crying since lunch!” 

“She’s probably fussed about being in this house all day, Lily says kids need fresh air.”

Sirius nodded, neither of them were qualified to contradict the motherly intellect of Lily Evans. 

“What did Dumbledore want?” Sirius asked.

Remus explained the nature of the mission, omitting the fact that he contemplated hexing the Headmaster for not adequately protecting the McKinnon’s.

“How long will you be gone?” 

“Depends on how long it takes to ensure the pack won’t join up with You-Know-Who.” Remus said, holding Archie on his lap, as the baby struggled to keep her eyes open, exhausted from her fit.

Sirius nodded and lit a cigarette. It had started raining.

They looked at each other for a long time

There was a spy in the Order, someone was giving information to You-Know-Who, that’s the only way the McKinnon family could have been found. 

Remus had thought, foolishly, that Sirius would always trust him. 

Now, he wondered if Sirius ever did.

**

Twelve years later.

August, 1993 

On a long piece of parchment, Arcturus Orion Black was finishing her summer essay for Charms. 

_ In conclusion, the moral debate involving using Memory Charms on Muggles is rarely contested. However, when used on fellow wizards, false or misleading memories can create long lasting issues on one's grasp on reality and when used too frequently, even the most powerful wizards will- _

She had run out of parchment. 

“Shit!” She whispered.

“Archie, lunch is ready!” Remus Lupin's voice came from the kitchen, she could hear a sizzling pan and the muffled sound of ABBA on the record player. Arcturus’ hand was quite tired, she cracked her knuckles and began to clear the dining table. 

Lunch was fried eggs, which is strange, but not strange for Remus and Archie. The pair chatted about what was left of her summer homework. It was August, in a month Archie was going back to Hogwarts, but this year Remus was coming with her. 

It was a sullen June night when the Headmaster of Hogwarts appeared in their living room and requested a private audience with Remus, and asked him to come teach Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. Archie pressed her ear against her bedroom door and listened to the conversation.

“Severus Snape, the potions professor, would be more than happy to brew Wolfsbane for you each month, I believe you knew him in school.” 

“Yes, I knew him,” Remus responded, somewhat amused, “I am worried about…  _ her. _ ”

“Whyever would you be? She has always been an exceptional student and never struggled to find friends. Her father teaching would be of no obstacle, I’m sure of it.” 

“But I’m not her father! And I fear drawing attention to me would put her in danger.”

“I assure you Mr. Lupin, Hogwarts is the safest place for both of you.” The Headmaster said.    
  


At this, Archie removed her ear from the door and considered not eavesdropping. Remus rarely discussed the fact that Archie was an orphan, and scarcely spoke about her birth parents. The little information Archie had was from old letters Remus had forgotten about, and stories from Hogwarts professors and the occasional anecdote from Remus. 

Regulus Arcturus Black was a deatheater, a pure-blood, a Slytherin, Quidditch seeker, and was murdered on December 13th, 1979, two months after Archie was born. She was his namesake, bless the bastard that names his daughter after himself. 

Marlene McKinnon was a member of the Order, same year as Remus, a Gryffindor, Quidditch beater, and was murdered on July 9th, 1980. Unlucky pair, Archie supposed.

In a letter Remus wrote to Lily Potter, Archie learned that Marlene and Regulus went into hiding in a London safe house in January of 1979. 

_ Never thought Marlene was the type to keep secrets from us, but you should have seen the look on her face when Regulus apperated in the fireplace- pure bliss. I suppose they were together during school, but even Sirius knew nothing about it. No matter, I’m just glad he’s safe now. I think Sirius is glad to have his brother back, but he won’t admit it.  _

The letter was torn, but Archie savored the information, adding it to the thin catalog of information she had about her parents. 

After Regulus’s death, Marlene went further into hiding, ensuring that only the Order and her family knew of Arcturus’ existence. Quickly it became clear how dangerous her position was. With no heir, the Black family became somewhat irrelevant allies to the Dark Lord, and lost their position as one of the coveted pure-blood lineages, after their first heir was disowned and the second dead. The Black family became background noise to the deatheater’s efforts to cleanse the wizard population of dirty blood. Sirius was the first to articulate the magnitude of Regulus’s defection and subsequent death to the Order. 

_ “If they find out she exists, they will do everything they can to find her!” _ Sirius said at an Order meeting, sometime in 1981, shortly after Albus had told Sirius, Remus, Lily, James, and Peter about the prophecy and the Dark Lord’s newfound interest in James and Lily’s son.

The room looked down at Archie and Harry, who were sitting on the floor babbling over a toy. When Remus told the story to Archie, ‘pity’ was the word he used to describe the look on the adult’s faces.

So she was hidden, first with Marlene’s family in Kent. When the McKinnon family was murdered she was relocated to a London safehouse with Remus and Sirius. Then, after Sirius betrayed the Order and Peter, James and Lily were murdered, Remus and Archie relocated to a cottage in Yorkshire, far away from the world that was still recovering from a war. Their lives were peaceful, muggle-like even. Remus never used his wand, save for household chores and cooking.

Thus Remus’ bewilderment when Dumbledore asked him to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts that summer. 

Arcturus put her ear back up to the doorframe and continued listening, pushing away the guilt from eavesdropping.

“I have a job already! I work for the muggle farm down the road,” Remus was pacing, “They’re expecting a caf this fall.” 

“I’m sure they will find other arrangements for labor.” Dumbledore said, calmly. 

After several minutes of contemplation, Remus reluctantly agreed and Archie heard an unmistakable  _ crack  _ of apparition. 

Remus’ concerns were not unfounded. Archie’s title as ‘The Stolen Black Heir’ (awarded by the _ Daily Prophet _ her first year) became popular among her distant Slytherin relatives, who eagerly attempted to convince her that she was kidnapped from a life of fame, luxury, and power throughout her first year. 

These attempts dwindled when she befriended Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley, who were both deemed unsuitable company by the pure-blood peanut gallery that had become interested in Arcturus’ existence. She received Howler’s from distant relatives frequently, sneers from Slytherins, and even the occasional off handed comment from adults when they realized who she was and who she was associated with.

There seemed to be an inexplicable confusion as to how the child of a Deatheater rejected the idea of pure-blood supremacy _and_ was a Gryffindor. She seldom reminded her peers that she actually had a fair bit of Gryffindor blood in her from her mother’s side and her uncle was a Gryffindor.

On that August day over fried eggs, just weeks before the pair would board the Hogwarts Express together, Archie was thinking of her Gryffindor uncle. 

“Is Sirius still alive?” She asked between bites. 

“I… think so.” Remus gulped his tea awkwardly.

“Why do you think he was in Gryffindor?” She asked. Remus was taken aback.

“Well he was… he was brave for a long time,” Remus explained. Questions such as these are rarely simple. Archie nodded. 

“You will finally meet James and Lily’s son this year.” She remarked, electing to pass by the subject of Sirius. 

“I’ve met him before, when you were both young. And I won’t make myself known to him, it’s my understanding that the boy has run into enough trouble without me.” 

“But-” Archie attempted, “Harry needs to know more about his parents! He doesn’t know  _ anything! _ ”

Remus continued eating his egg, maintaining a long silence.

“I’m doing this for his own good, Archie. Remember your distaste for Snape when you discovered he was a friend of your father’s?” 

“This is why you won’t tell me about Sirius, is it not? You think-” She started.

“Enough Archie-” He was interrupted by a  _ crack  _ coming from the front yard. Archie followed her dad out the door.

“Ah! Remus!” Arthur Weasley was emerging from the tall grass field that surrounded the cottage, “I come baring… terrible… quite concerning news.” 

The three returned to the kitchen, and Remus began making another pot of tea.

“I take it you haven't read the papers lately?” Arthur asked.

“I haven't read the papers in ten years, Arthur, I find them terribly untrustworthy.”

“I see,” said Arthur, taking a copy of  _ The Daily Prophet  _ out of his briefcase, “You’ll want to read this one.” pushing the paper towards him. 

_ MURDERER ESCAPED FROM AZKABAN; BLACK IS BACK _

_ Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to be held in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today. _

_ "We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm." _

_ Fudge has been criticised by some members of the International Confederation of Wizards for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis. _

_ "Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it — who'd believe him if he did?" _

_ While Muggles have been told that Black is carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse. _

Archie watched Remus read the article in horror.

“There is talk at the ministry, that he might be looking for someone,” Arthur explained, “They feel that Archie and Harry are in danger because of his escape.” 

Remus’ horror was replaced with anger. 

“You think he would-?”

“Lupin I am only relaying information to you, Black has not been sighted since his escape, there is no evidence of these intentions.” Arthur’s voice remained calm, as if he’s repeated this statement many times. Remus drank his tea contemplatively. 

“How’d he do it? How’d he escape?” 

“It’s unclear,” Arthur said. Remus closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Lupin,” Arthur lowered his voice, but Archie could still hear him clearly, “You are also in danger.” 

Remus looked away distantly.

The Daily Prophet was delivered to the cottage every day until they left for Hogwarts. 

**

Archie spent the last week of summer holiday searching for information about Sirius Black. The Daily Prophet proved to be a fruitless source. 

_ Black Still at Large! _

_ Muggle Prime Minister States “Black Will Be Brought to Justice”! _

_ Increased Security at Hogwarts Due to Black’s Escape! _

Most of the articles attached to these headlines repeated the little information the public already had about Black’s escape and featured the same haunting photo of him, but Archie read them anyway. She alternated from being gripped by curiosity and stunned by fear. 

She began questioning Remus frequently about Sirius, but she was often met with awkwardness or hostility. Remus had always been vague about the past, but the idea that Sirius Black, a deranged traitor of the Order, was after them and Remus wouldn’t even consider adding a protective ward to the property, or tell her the details of the betrayal seemed excessive. Archie’s own ignorance was frustrating her. Surely there was something Remus was not telling her.

The day before they were to leave for Hogwarts was a full moon, so Remus was looking particularly haggard as they  apparated to Kings Cross. They arrived long before the other students and found an empty compartment near the back of the Hogwarts express (Remus said he was far too feeble to sit in the professors’ compartment) and he fell asleep almost as soon as they were settled. 

As students started arriving, Archie set out to find Harry and warn him about Sirius Black but was intercepted by Luna Lovegood and other Ravenclaw girls asking eagerly about Archie’s summer. 

“Quite nice,” She said politely, “Bit warm wasn’t it?” 

“Dad says the warm weather is good for business,” Luna said in her constant dreamy tone, “People are apt to look for creative ways to cool down, and dad had loads of ideas in the August edition!” 

“Capital,” Archie said distantly, still looking for Harry, “I better get back to my compartment, Luna.” She nodded absently to her friend.

She found Harry, Ron, and Hermione back at the compartment, talking quietly, as Remus slept.

“Archie!” Hermione said fondly, hugging her. 

The four exchanged pleasantries and Archie explained that the sleeping stranger was her dad, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

“He fought in the first war,” Archie explained, “That’s why Dumbledore asked him.”

“So he’s got  _ real _ experience.” Ron commented, excitedly. Archie nodded, Remus hadn’t shared much about the first war with Archie, but she surmised he had some sort of experience dueling. 

After some time of catching up, Archie remembered her original intention of finding her friends.

“Harry, can I tell you something in the corridor?” Archie asked when the conversation lulled. 

“Course.” He said and they both exited into the quiet passage at the end of the train. 

“Have you heard about… Sirius Black?” She asked, in a whisper even though no one was around. 

Harry nodded.

“Picked up the Daily Prophet the day I came to Diagon Alley and he was on every page,” He explained, “Then I heard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking about how he might be after us. And today, Arthur told me… he told me not to go  _ looking _ for him.”

“Looking for Sirius Black? He wants to kill us!” 

Harry hushed her, and the pair looked around to ensure they weren’t being overheard. 

“Hogwarts is the safest place for us.” Harry whispered, Archie nodded, of course. Dumbledore wanted to keep them safe. 

Before Archie could agree, they were interrupted by Draco Malfoy and his usual gang of Slytherins. 

“Look who it is,” Malfoy taunted, “I’ve heard whispers of your upcoming family reunion,  _ Black _ .” 

“I suspect my uncle will want to visit his  _ favorite  _ cousin first,” Archie responded, rolling her eyes, “I do hope your mother is prepared for a visit.” 

Malfoy looked at her, shocked. Surely he wasn’t stupid enough to believe that silly threat, Archie thought.

“Well, my father thinks it’s  _ you _ lot the madman is after!” Malfoy said after he recovered from Archie’s quip. 

Archie tried to look confident but felt intensely worried. 

“Piss off Malfoy. Don’t worry about us.” Harry said, opening the door to their compartment, and entering. Malfoy tried to continue jeering them but ceased when he saw there was a professor in the compartment. The train ride continued in relative normalcy, Ron was plotting a way to smuggle Harry into Hogsmead, and Hermione was smitten with her new feline. Remus was fast asleep the whole time. This moon must have been a particularly difficult one, Archie thought to herself. 

Remus made it clear to Archie that his affliction needed to be kept secret. Even her friends could not know. After the war, anti-werewolf legislation was passed, and the ministry registry was opened to the public, reigniting the prejudice werewolves had been subjected to before the war. Although, because so many had joined You-Know-Who during the war, the stigma was even harsher. Luckily, Remus remained unregistered, but if his secret got out, he would surely have to go back into hiding. 

“We can’t be there yet,” Hermione said, regaining Archie's attention. 

“So why’re slowing down?” Archie asked, resisting the urge to wake her dad. Harry was looking out into the corridor, saying nothing. 

Harry looked back at Archie, eyes wide and terrified, as the train came to a sudden halt and the lights went out. 

“Dad-”

“What’s going on?” 

“Ouch!” Hermione said, and began bickering with Ron. Archie put her arms out, attempting to find her dad. He would know what to do. He could speak with the conductor. He could cast a warming charm; it’s getting quite cold. 

“I think someone is coming aboard.” Ron said from the left of the darkness. 

“Dad?’

“Harry?”

“Hermione?” 

“Archie?”

“Dad!” Archie said, finally finding him, shaking him softly awake. The others were still chattering loudly, “Someone is on the train.” Archie told him. 

“Quiet!” Remus instructed. The compartment fell silent. Archie held on to Remus’ elbow. It was cold, it was so cold.

Remus had produced a small flame in his hand, casting a moody glow on her friends. In the chaos, Ginny and Neville had appeared. 

“Stay where you are.” Remus said, and Archie released his elbow. She looked at Harry, but his eyes were fixed on the door to the compartment. It was so cold. 

Before anyone could move, a hooded figure appeared in the train compartment and the temperature continued to drop. Harry slumped to the floor, and began breathing shakily. The hooded figure loomed over him as Harry struggled to breathe. Archie felt hopeless, she couldn’t move, surely she was about to die… 

Next to her, Remus produced his wand.

“Expeco Patronum!” Remus said quietly, but forcefully, and a silver hound chased off the creature.

Archie recognized the Patronus Charm immediately, remembering that Remus used it to send messages to the Weasley family when she was young.

But she always remembered a wolf delivering those messages. 

The lights flickered on and the train began to move. Remus put his wand away, and knelt down next to Harry and handed him chocolate. Archie saw the look in his eyes, the same look he described the day Dumbledore discovered the prophecy. 

Pity.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I know many people headcannon that Marlene is gay, and if her hetero-ness in this fic makes you mad/ makes it hard to read I understand :) However, I don't want anyone to think I am trying to erase the little queer reparation the HP fandom had made for themselves by making Marlene straight in this fic, I just thought Marlene having a child during the war would be an interesting headcannon to explore :)
> 
> Also fuck JKR she is a terf and an anti-semite and I hate her.


End file.
